If you’re a Twitter user, join the next #CdnELTchat on Tuesday, February 26th. Below is a recap of the the most recent chat from the #CdnELTchat moderators.

On February 12, ELT practitioners from across Canada and the U.S. connected on Twitter for #CdnELTchat on the topic of Supporting teachers new to the #ELT profession. Jennifer Chow (@jennifermchow) kept the conversation moving by posting questions, while Bonnie Nicholas (@EALstories) helped out by replying and retweeting, and Augusta Avram (@LINCinstructor) and Svetlana Lupasco (@stanzasl) provided background support. Please contact any of the team members if you have ideas for chats or if you’d like to help out, maybe by co-moderating a chat or collecting the tweets for a summary like this one.

Have you ever thought about presenting a
webinar? Do you have some ideas or successes you think would be interesting to
others? Want to add some new tech skills to your resume? Or just would like to
give it a try?

Last Monday, Patrice introduced a discussion on why teachers need to care about self-care. This Monday’s blog continues that discussion.

Self-Care Solutions

The implementation of self-care requires a mindset change and the belief that we deserve time and attention for our own needs. This is difficult for many teachers to do since caring seems to be part of our DNA. I strongly believe that self-care should be easy to follow, of little to no cost, and should not add time or stress to an already busy career. I incorporated “new tiny habits” such as daily walks, setting reasonable marking expectations and boundaries (such as no emails at night or weekends), spending time doing things I enjoy, connecting with people important to me, and setting Sunday as a no-work/re-set day. Continue reading →

Have you ever thought about self-care? Do you practice self-care now? Unfortunately, self-care was never part of my vocabulary, so when I left teaching in December 2015 due to professional burn-out, I never thought about my own needs. When I returned to teaching in November 2017, I knew that I needed to practice self-care. This post discusses what I have learned about teacher self-care and the information shared in a December 7, 2018 TESL Ontario webinar. I also include some valuable insights and comments from more than 80 participants who took part.

You’ve noticed that many students in your class smoke. Is quitting smoking something you should talk about? Is it any of your business? Many of your students have children. Do they smoke around their children? Is it part of your role as an instructor to discuss the negative health effects of smoking? Continue reading →

#CdnELTchat got off to a thoughtful start in 2019 with a focused chat on Resolutions in #ELT. Jennifer Chow (@jennifermchow) led the discussion by posting the questions, with Augusta Avram (@LINCinstructor) and Bonnie Nicholas (@EALstories) welcoming participants and replying to posts, and Svetlana Lupasco (@StanzaSL) providing support in the background. The team has published an article reflecting on their experiences with #CdnELTchat, Building a Community of Connected ELT Professionals on Twitter. The article appears in the most recent issue of the TESL Canada Journal Special Issue, The Shifting Landscape of Professional Self-Development for ELT Practitioners. Continue reading →

I believe that the first step to foster Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) and independency in our students is to use critical thinking and inquiry. I teach English for Academic Purposes (EAP) to students who very often come from countries where neither SRL nor inquiry are particularly encouraged. I have been experimenting with critical thinking and inquiry and SRL skills in the classroom during my Master’s degree and I haven’t stopped. It is quite fascinating and rewarding. I would like to share a lesson in pronunciation I have recently adopted with one of my advanced EAP classes. Continue reading →

A new year is upon us, and as 2019 begins to unfold, so too, does our Strategic Plan for 2019-2021. What you normally see is the finalized plan, which is available on our website. But we wanted to take you behind the scenes of our process for strategic planning. Continue reading →

It was almost 4 years ago that I began my master’s program and started teaching at an amazing English department in addition to continuing my other part time job. It was then that I realized my organizational skills needed help.

I had to work with various LMS (Learning Management Systems) such as Moodle, Blackboard, Desire to Learn at school and at work. In addition to creating lesson plans, marking, doing research, attending meetings, and collaborating with colleagues for projects, I had to make sure that I Continue reading →

If you’re a Twitter user, join the next #CdnELTchat usually every second Tuesday. Below is a recap of the November 27th chat from the #CdnELTchat moderators.

I have been learning how to speak Mandarin for the better part of twenty years, but I still can’t produce the fourth tone correctly. I automatically say the first tone instead of the fourth tone in conversation. I am aware that I do this, yet I can’t seem to correct this bad habit. Is this a fossilized error? Is there anything I can do to overcome this error? On November 27th, a group of educators discussed these questions and more on #CdnELTchat.

Thank-you so much to the enthusiastic participants who contributed their ideas and shared resources during this chat. Continue reading →